October 18 in Indianapolis hockey history

1945: The Caps host Buffalo in 1945-46 home opener, and the teams tie 3-3 despite two Caps goals from Pete Leswick. Each team has four war vets compete in a relay race as part of the festivities, where each player had to chase the puck and pass it after one lap. Tony Bukovich, Ed Riegle, Pete Leswick, Mud Bruneteau represented the Caps. With wartime travel restrictions lifted, a crowd of 8,728 fills the Coliseum.

1951: The Capitals play their final home opener, falling 5-2 to the Hershey Bears. Jim Hay and Ed Bruneteau score the Caps’ goals and Earl Reibel has two assists. Glenn Hall stops 41 shots in the loss.

1955: The Indianapolis-Fort Wayne rivalry that would last through 21 IHL seasons officially begins. Roger Hayfield scores at 9:20 of overtime to give the Chiefs a 3-2 victory at the Allen County Coliseum. Bob Lalonde makes 52 saves.

1978: Wayne Gretzky gets his first professional point, an assist on Richie Leduc’s goal at 16:13 of the first period of a 4-0 win over Quebec. Eddie Mio stops 37 Nordiques shots in the win.

1997: The Ice fall behind 4-0 to Cincinnati, but Alfie Turcotte and Todd White score 1:13 apart in the second period, and then White scores again at 3:34 of the third to cut the deficit to one. Brian Felsner and Dave Hymovitz score 1:28 apart midway through the third, eventually sending the Ice into a shootout, where Felsner and White win it 6-5 for the Ice. Felsner has a goal and two assists. White scores twice and Tuomas Gronman has three assists.

2002: A new era begins for the Ice as Ken McRae takes over behind the bench. It yields a 3-2 shootout loss to Tulsa in front of 4,751 at the Coliseum.

2003: The Ice open their final CHL season at home with a 5-2 victory over Shreveport. Mike Zeibaq scores the game-winning goal. Jeff Sanger gets the win in net in front of 5,783 fans.

2014: Nick Jones has the first three-point game in Fuel history with a goal and two assists in a 4-3 loss at Fort Wayne. Garrett Klotz and the Komets’ Cody Sol get into the first fight 2:31 into the game.

Happy birthday to …

Rollie Rossignol: Right wing for the Capitals in 1945-46. He had 26 goals and 21 assists in 48 games that season, as well as two points in five playoff games. Rollie played 14 NHL games for the Red Wings and Canadiens from 1943-46, and played three full AHL seasons from 1944-47 with the Pittsburgh Hornets, Caps and St. Louis Flyers, before moving back to Canada to play senior hockey. A native of Edmunston, NB, he was born in 1920. He passed away in 1981 at age 60.

Alex Laseen: Ice forward for 15 games in 2005-06. He had two goals and five assists, and also tallied one goal in five playoff games. He came over from Des Moines, where he had played the previous season and a half. He would go on to play one more junior season in the NAHL, and one season of Div. III hockey at Curry College. A native of Redondo Beach, Calif., he is 31.